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The Destroyers of Hope
The Pillars were corrupted and broken. The Circle of Nine had succumbed to madness. Each and every one of the Protectors of Hope was left insane and, in that insanity, they ceased to serve the Pillars and turned instead to serving their own crazed desires, slowly but surely tainting the very land itself with their corrupted power. The Mind Guardian Nupraptor in his grief shunned the world, sewing his eyes and mouth shut. As his madness grew, he relied increasingly upon his mental powers, leaving his body to become emaciated, shriveled and weak. Secluded within his retreat towering above the town of Vasserbünde, he withdrew into a pastime of vicious torture. The pilgrims who once traveled from across Nosgoth for his wisdom now became his victims, their screams echoing day and night throughout the horrified town below. The Conflict Guardian Malek, for his failure to protect the Circle from Vorador's wrath, was sentenced to damnation. Mortanius separated the warrior's soul from his flesh and infused it into the very armor he wore in battle. Now denied the pleasures of the flesh and with nothing save an eternity of servitude in his future, Malek never allowed another Guardian to die under his watch. Upon being infected by Nupraptor's madness, Malek exiled himself to the frigid northern mountains of Nosgoth. In his well-protected mountain fortress, the lunatic Malek amused himself by using a special machine to fuse lost souls to armor suits, forcing them to battle while Nosgoth crumbled beyond the walls of his gladiatorial playground. The Nature Guardian Bane, in his madness, gained a twisted new perspective on his Guardian duties. Rather than maintain the proper order of nature, he began to warp the land of Nosgoth into a scorched and barren place hospitable only to monsters and mutated horrors - a hellish remaking of nature to reflect the Nature Guardian's fresh psychosis. The Dimension Guardian Azimuth oversaw the town of Avernus from its impressive cathedral. While dedicated holy worship took place in the building, it's lowest level hid evidence of a more sinister faith: The altar upon which blood was sacrificed to Hash'Ak'Gik. While Azimuth once founded this cult in secret within the catacombs of Avernus Cathedral, insanity triumphed over caution and she soon began openly pulling monsters through from the demon dimension, allowing them to freely ravage the town so long as her Cathedral remained unscathed. The Energy Guardian DeJoule retreated into the northernmost regions of Nosgoth where Bane's twisted perversions of nature were underway. Just as her body had been altered by her role as Energy Guardian, flesh crackling with bright blue energy, her mind was now altered by Nupraptor's psychic assault upon the Circle. Channeling her unique powers over the very energy of all things, she hastened the spread of Bane's corruptive magic and a great dome of corroding energy began to spread out over the land. The States Guardian Anarcrothe, disfigured by an unfortunate experiment in alchemy, also turned toward the realization of Bane's mad nightmare world. Wielding command over the forms of physical matter, he began to experiment upon the life in the area, transforming his unfortunate test subjects into horrific abominations. As his final contribution, he constructed a great tower to provide a focal point through which to channel DeJoule's energy and hasten Bane's demented work. Spatially altered by Anarcrothe's physics-defying magic, this tower was deceptively small but contained a vast interior space, serving as a headquarters for the three during their creation of the grotesque new land that would come to be known as Dark Eden. The Time Guardian Moebius, already corrupted since his youth by the ulterior whispers of the Elder God and well-known as a self-serving schemer, was only driven into greater depths by the madness pushed upon him. Masquerading as the wise Oracle of Nosgoth, he would dispense cryptic advice and riddles to any who sought his council, in exchange for a pouch of coins. His antics, while dishonest, were of no great consequence. But Moebius would outlive all of the other Guardians and, once bored of this petty trickery, he would go on to affect great and terrible events throughout Nosgoth's history in service to his unseen "god". The Death Guardian Mortanius, olden traitor to the Ancients and unwitting tool of the Circle's demise, lost all sight of his Guardian obligations as the madness gripped his mind. While he visited no direct harm upon the world, skeletons and awful dead things wandered the mortal realm, free to remain amongst the living as the regulation between life and death went neglected. The Balance Guardian Ariel, though dead, was not at rest. So long as the Circle remained in ruins and its demented members lived on polluting the land with their terrible magic, she was not permitted the true release of death. Until all corruption was eradicated from the Circle of Nine, Ariel's spirit was condemned to damnation, forever haunting the Pillars she had failed to serve as an eternal reminder of the balance she had failed to protect. Category:The Age of Corruption